EghtesadOnline: Chicken is the most consumed meat in Iran and with a chicken and egg output of over 3 million tons per year, the industry has played an important role in the country’s food security.

With a chicken farming industry dating back 63 years, Iran is among the top 10 producers of chicken and eggs in the world, according to a report published in Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture’s monthly journal Ayandenegar.

Per capita chicken consumption in Iran is twice the global average. Statistics indicate per capita chicken consumption in the world is around 11.5 kilograms while it is 25 kilograms in Iran.

There are 393 million broilers in the country and only 300 million are being used for their meat. The country produces between 165,000 and 175,000 tons of broilers per month, according to Financial Tribune.

Statistics from Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture show 31.31 million pullets for egg-laying were bred during the fiscal 2015-16. The figure rose to 34.08 million the following year and reached 30.38 million during the nine months to December 21, 2017.

The recent outbreak of the H5N8 strain of avian flu, which took place in late 2017, did a number on Iran’s egg market and led to the shortage of supply and price fluctuations. The deadly virus has inflicted Iranian poultry farms with losses amounting to more than half a billion dollars and forced the cull of over 27 million chickens in Iranian poultry farms.

Iran produces around 2.2 million tons of ready-to-cook chicken and about 900,000 tons of eggs annually.